Cochlear Implants

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cochlear  (a) unilateral and  (b) bilateral implants have been performed on (i) children and (ii) adults in each NHS trust in each year since 2002-03.

Ivan Lewis: Data from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for bilateral and unilateral cochlear implants from 2002-03 to 2005-06 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Count of finished consultant episodes for bilateral and unilateral cochlear implants from 2002-03 to 2005-06, national health service hospitals, England 
			   Bilateral  Unilateral  Not known  Total 
			  18 and over 
			 2005-06 * 201 * 215 
			 2004-05 * 192 * 209 
			 2003-04 * 189 * 209 
			 2002-03 * 174 * 188 
			  
			  Under 18 
			 2005-06 6 266 14 286 
			 2004-05 8 239 20 267 
			 2003-04 * 227 * 252 
			 2002-03 * 178 * 214 
			  Notes:  Procedure codes used D24.1 Implantation of intracochlear prosthesis. D24.2 Implantation of extracochlear prosthesis.  Laterality codes used Z94.1 Bilateral Z94.2 Right sided operation Z94.3 Left sided operation Z94.4 Unilateral operation The not known column shows where D24.1 or D24.2 are present but no code has been entered for the laterality of the procedure.  Low Numbers Due to reasons of confidentiality, figures between 1 and 5 have been suppressed and replaced with "*" (an asterisk).  Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).  Source: HES, the Information Centre for health and social care.

Consent to Medical Treatment

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps  (a) he has taken and  (b) he is planning to take to ensure that healthcare professionals comply with a patient's advance decision to refuse treatment in certain circumstances; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The Mental Capacity Act (MCA), which applies in England and Wales, came fully into force in October 2007 and puts advance decisions to refuse treatment onto a statutory footing. The MCA Code of Practice, issued in April 2007 gives details of the Act's provisions on advance decisions and sets out health professionals' responsibilities. The Code and the training materials we have issued make clear that healthcare professionals must follow an advance decision to refuse treatment if it is valid and applies to the particular circumstances. If they do not, they could face civil liability or criminal prosecution.
	It is for individual trusts to put in place procedures for implementing the MCA locally. The Act requires the Public Guardian to produce an annual report on the implementation of the MCA.